


The Power of Love (Always So Strong)

by kittinoir



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Major character death - Freeform, So much angst, but could be very triggering, but he doesn't stay dead!, not particularly violent, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22540291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittinoir/pseuds/kittinoir
Summary: Based off a Tik Tok prompt. Basically, 'you know the line from the theme song, the power of love always so strong'? what if Chat Noir died and Ladybug brings him back with 'the power of love' because she loves Chat as her friend, but also Adrien, who ultimately is Chat Noir, and that saves him'.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 2
Kudos: 77





	The Power of Love (Always So Strong)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexdrienette](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Alexdrienette).



In the movies, it happened in slow motion. The car flipped, the bullet flew, the rope snapped, all over a matter of seconds, as though you could reach out a stop it if you just moved _now_.

It wasn’t like that in real life. No, in real life, everything happened _fast_. Too fast. And all Ladybug could do was watch, mid swing, as Chat Noir missed a step. As he fell, exposing his chest to Hawkmoth’s latest villain. As black lightning struck him, right over the heart. He fell, rolling across the pavement, and when he stopped at the mouth of an alley, his back to her as Ladybug finally landed, he did not move again. 

_No_. It couldn’t happen. The miraculous made them nearly impervious. They’d both taken hits to the chest before, been on the receiving end of much worse damage. But, a small voice reminded her, things had been getting worse lately. Their little dance with Hawkmoth had become more delicate, more deadly. He was done playing around. Lately, he’d been going for the kill. 

Someone was screaming. _Me,_ Ladybug realized even as she leapt for her fallen partner, _it’s me_. Half battle-cry, half grief-stricken wail, her shriek seemed to rattle the windows around them. Any civilians that had stopped to watch cringed at the sound as it tore through the street. 

Ladybug hit the ground running, half-blind. She could almost hear him in her head as she engaged the villain head-on, fighting with fist and foot and yo-yo. _I’m the reckless one, m’lady; I’m the distraction. You’re going to get hurt fighting like this_. Her scream only got louder as she lashed out, again and again.

 _I let him do this. I let him do this every time. And it finally cost him. And me. It was too dangerous. I knew it was. This is my fault. I did this. I did this. I did this-_. The guilt was unrelenting as she fought. It was drowning her. It was killing her.

“RARGH!” Her fist sang as it collided with something on the villain’s suit. A crack could be heard and then - there. A corrupted akuma, flitting away.

Ladybug danced back, instinct taking over as she swung out her yo-yo for the akuma. She purified it, released it as the victim was freed. _The miraculous ladybugs,_ she thought as she scrambled for her forgotten lucky charm. They would fix this. She would activate them, and that horribly dark stain that was trickling from underneath her partner through the Parisian cobblestones would disappear. He’d make some stupid joke about his nine lives that would somehow still make her laugh. He’d smile, he’d flirt, he’d _breathe_ again.

Except…he didn’t.

The ladybugs surged through the streets, righting cars and fixing shattered street lights. Monuments that had come crashing down righted themselves. Trees snapped back into place. Glass reappeared in windows. 

But the ladybugs didn’t so much as come within twenty feet of Chat Noir before winking back out of existence.

No. No. No no nononononono-

The word became white noise, a high-pitched tone in Ladybug’s head as she sprinted for him. She dropped down beside him in the alley, her knees barking in pain as they struck the stones. She rolled him towards her, pulling his head onto her lap. Nothing. There was nothing. Whatever had made him _him_ was gone. His lips were turning _blue_. 

“Don’t.” Ladybug barely even recognized her own voice as she cupped his cold face. “Don’t. Don’t - do this to me. Don’t go. _Don’t go_.” Her tears were twin streaks of fire as they blazed a trail down her cheeks and dripped onto his still chest. “Chat Noir, please. Please. I am _begging_ you. You can’t- you can’t leave me like this. You promised - ”

She broke off as the sobs wracked her small frame. Ladybug dropped her head, pressing her face against the spot where his neck met his shoulder as she clung to him. A thousand memories were clamouring in her mind, an unforgiving tidal wave as they crashed through her. His enthusiasm the first time they’d met. His boundless confidence. The way he trusted her blindly. How he always, always showed up. A stolen moment on a Parisian rooftop. A rose. 

Ladybug trembled as she raised her head. She’d have to get him away from the street, free Plagg from his - free Plagg. Find out who he is - was. And break the news to his family. She had to get him home.

“I love you.” The words tore something open in Ladybug she knew wouldn’t be fixed any time soon. “I _love_ you. Your bravery. Your kindness. You’re my best friend, Chat Noir. I…I love you. I love you. _I love you_.” She didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t enough. She lowered her face one more time, pressing a kiss to his forehead, both an admission and a farewell.

A warm pink light lit the inside of the alley in an abrupt flash.

Ladybug tensed. _I can’t_. The thought flit through her before she could stop it. _Too soon. I can’t fight. Not without… not without…_

“M…lady…?”

Ladybug’s gaze whipped back to her fallen partner, his head still resting in her lap. Colour had flooded his pallid skin, and his chest rose and fell rhythmically with every breath. Those green eyes were blinking up at her, a thousand questions in them.

“Chat…Noir…?” It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be. It had to be a new akuma, Hawkmoth’s cruelest trick yet. Except he seemed so _real_. So…alive. That essence she’d sensed the absence of limned every part of him now, from his posture to the affectionate quirk of his lips.

“What happened?” Her partner glanced around the alley and sat up, rubbing his chest where the lightning had struck him. “Did we win? …Pound it?”

It was him. It was really him. Alive, and breathing, _him_. 

“Chat Noir.” And then she was crying again, arms around his neck, her face on his shoulder. She shook with uncontrollable sobs as she felt him stiffen, then relax against her. Moments later she felt his arms go around her, pulling her in.

“Was it that bad?” His voice was a mere whisper in her ear, more serious than she’d ever heard it. For a moment she could only cry harder. 

Finally, she nodded against him. “You…you di - ”.

“Shhhh, sh sh sh.” Chat Noir ran a soothing hand down her hair, soothing her. “It’s ok. I guess that puts me down to just eight lives.”

And then, despite it all, Ladybug was laughing through her tears, even as they continued to fall. Because she had called it, and he had not let her down. 

“Any idea how I…came back?” he asked as he wiped at her tears. 

But Ladybug could only shrug. “Maybe it’s some part of the black cat miraculous and there’s something to your nine lives theory?”

“Wouldn’t it have worked instantly then?” he asked, frowning. “And there wasn’t anything about it in the manual.”

 _I love you_. The words rang through Ladybug again she she stared at her partner. And that pink flash, so similar to the one she saw whenever she transformed. Identical, really. The black cat miraculous held the power of destruction…and the ladybug miraculous had the power of creation. Of _life_.

“I think…I think maybe it was something I did,” Ladybug said slowly. “I think maybe it’s a part of _my_ miraculous. There was a flash like when I transform and…I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t accept losing you. I think I did something.”

“You couldn’t accept losing _me_?” He blinked as he said it, as though the idea had never occurred to him before. And, internally, Ladybug flinched. She’d rejected his romantic advances, but how could he not know?

“Chat Noir, you are irreplaceable to me,” she said, reaching out to cup his cheek. “I could never do what we do without you. This world - my world, it’s better because you are in it.”

She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t say what she’d said before, because even though it was true, it wasn’t the same as the love he felt for her. And she wouldn’t, couldn’t do that to him. Except, she thought, after what she’d just said, she was wondering if maybe he’d put it together himself: exactly how she’d brought him back. 

In fact, he was looking the way he usually did when he was about to flirt, leaning in just a little bit closer. Except instead he frowned.

“Your earrings aren’t blinking.” He squinted, tilting his head to get a better look as Ladybug started. “Did you already recharged your kwami?”

“No,” Ladybug said. She ran a finger over her earring. “Your ring isn’t blinking, either. I guess…I guess today is the day we grow up.”

“Yeah.” Chat Noir smiled, taking Ladybug’s hand in his own. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This was very much in my wheelhouse (for those of you confused, fluff is very not in my wheelhouse) and I hoped you like it. Thanks for reading :)


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